Braves Activate Freddie Freeman From 10-Day DL

The Braves have activated Freddie Freeman from the disabled list and he will start at third base tonight, the team announced (Twitterlinks). Jace Peterson has been optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

Freeman was expected to miss between 8-10 weeks of action when he originally suffered his fractured left wrist in mid-May. That devastating prognosis seemingly sealed the Braves’ fate as deadline sellers and led to the club acquiring Matt Adams from the Cardinals as a short-term fill-in for Freeman at first base.

Instead, there has been no shortage of surprises associated with Atlanta’s first base situation. Adams exploded once joining the Braves, hitting .285/.333/.589 with 12 homers in 165 PA as the everyday first baseman. Adams’ emergence led to the news that the Braves were considering using Freeman at third base, which Freeman embraced even though he hasn’t manned the hot corner since his high school days, over a decade ago.

If Freeman is able to play even passable third base defense and Adams is able to continue his hot hitting, the Braves would suddenly have a very strong corner infield combination as they try to stay on the outskirts of the playoff race. Atlanta is 18-11 over its last 29 games, improving to 40-41 on the season and 8.5 games behind the Nationals in the NL East and seven games out of a wild card spot. It’d still be a longshot if the Braves firmly got themselves back into the race, but getting Freeman back so much earlier than expected is unquestionably a major boost. Freeman was on an MVP-level pace prior to his injury, hitting .341/.461/.748 with 14 home runs over his first 165 plate appearances.

I’m old enough to remember Carl Yastrzemski playing third in 1973. 5-star outfielder, but holy cow, was he horrendous playing third. He did it to try and help the team, so I gave him credit but hopefully no video exists of the experiment.

Initially I’m a bit shocked Freeman has recuperated so quickly from his injury. I am not shocked though that Freddie pushed to cut his rehab assignment short (although I hope that the doctors looked at everything in depth).

I think Freeman will pleasantly surprise at third (although I worry about charging a slow roller and making the barehanded pick up). A lot of third is reactionary on which I think he’ll be fine.

I like Camargo at third, if I’m in control I trade Kemp for whatever salary relief I can get and I stick Adams in left. I know it’s exciting to think about us getting in the race but it’s not going to happen this year. Last time this occurred we had Smoltz, Glavine, and Avery, there are none of those presently with us. You become world champions with pitching, half of the 25 on the roster are pitchers, that’s why we keep drafting them

The only person that could make Kemp look like a decent OF is Matt Adams. If you’re in control you should will the MLB home office to have the DH in the NL so Kemp and Adams don’t have to feel like a third-wheel, while also making Margot Robbie fall in love with you. You’d have a better shot at either one of those things than Adams not looking like Manny Ramirez’s first graduate at his school of fielding.

I think that the biggest thing is Freddie absolutely wants to try this. He wants to do anything he can to try to help the club and puts it’s interests above his own. If he struggles defensively then I’d imagine he’d also be one of the first to decide it isn’t working (how long that will take who knows, if ever). Until Freeman proves himself one way or another I think that the club will allow him to play third. It isn’t like he will forget how to play first.

He has terrible arm action along with poor footwork to play third. There was a reason they moved him years ago to 3B in the first place. Can you guys think of another situation where a franchise guy switched positions to accommodate a guy who has been hot for eight weeks? Pitchers on the Braves will hate this move within a matter of days. Poor experiment